A Spring of Change Awaits Rodriguez and Mountaineers
The good ol’ days of college football fans wanting to watch their favorite teams grow and develop during the spring are probably going to be a thing of the past.
Blue-blood programs such as USC, Texas and Nebraska are no longer having traditional spring football games – not because they are worried about revealing schemes and plays to their opponents – but rather because they don’t want to see their rosters getting poached.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule has been particularly vocal about this topic after last year seeing several key players hit the transfer portal right after the Cornhuskers’ spring game.
Ole Miss is planning to replace its spring game with a spring festival that will include tug-of-war contests and golf cart races.
The lack of regulation concerning roster tampering has really put the sport in a difficult place.
On one hand, sports marketing departments want to get as much content as possible out into the general public to build excitement and enthusiasm for the upcoming season.
But when other teams (with many, many more coaches on staff now, by the way) are watching that content, and are constantly evaluating other teams’ rosters, programs across the country are beginning to reconsider what they’re willing to put out there.
Why showcase the development of a young, up-and-coming player for somebody else to poach?
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez began his coaching career during an era when it was important to give fans what they wanted to see.
Now, he’s got to think long and hard about doing so.
“Before, you used to worry about, ‘Aw, let’s not show too much in the spring because of schemes and certain plays,'” he said earlier today. “Now, let’s not show them our players because there is tampering going on and it’s rampant. You don’t see tampering in the NFL because they will lose draft picks and get fined, but in college, you don’t see anybody getting in trouble for tampering.
“I know some other coaches are considering it. I think Matt (Rhule), over at Nebraska, is not having a spring game because he doesn’t want people to evaluate his players, and I can see his point,” he said.
“It’s like, ‘Geez, I’ve got this guy who is really good, and he goes out there and shows out and somebody is going to offer a half-million dollars and take him from your program.’ If they don’t direct tamper, they’ll do it through a high school coach or through somebody in the community or an agent or something,” Rodriguez added.
Without question, it’s a conundrum.
Joe or Jill Fan, who pays good money for season tickets, has a right to be able to sample the product, so to speak. Giving him or her the opportunity to watch some video clips of a promising, young player is a great way to sell tickets and get people excited for the upcoming season.
Unfortunately, with basically unlimited coaching staffs now, every program worth anything is going to devote more time and personnel to studying other teams’ rosters.
Therefore, why do their work for them by putting it all out there on a silver platter?
These discussions are going on everywhere, including Ohio State, which basically bought a national championship this past season with the NIL resources it had at its disposal.
I overheard a pro scout at one of West Virginia’s practices last fall raving about Ohio State’s roster, calling it the most talented he had seen in the last 20 years of college scouting.
When teams like Ohio State are concerned about poaching, you know change is imminent.
“There is no question, we have thought about that from an open standpoint,” Rodriguez said. “I want our fans to watch our players, but a true spring game where you are going to really see a guy show out and all that, you’re probably not going to have that. We’ll have a little bit of scrimmaging and play a little football, but I am worried about it because there is not much structure to keep the tampering away as there should be.”
Last year, Neal Brown’s solution was to start spring practice later and end it right around the time the transfer portal opened, limiting the time for other programs to evaluate and make deals for his players.
Rodriguez said he wants a week of meetings with his players and coaches before the portal opens.
“Originally, it was going to be April 12th, but I moved it back to the fifth because I want to have a whole week of meetings,” he explained. “Not just because of that, but I think it looks like there is going to be a reduction in roster sizes. If they cut it down to 105, there are going to be a lot of guys that get cut, and that’s going to be really hard.
“A guy who does everything right who is maybe just not quite good enough to be on your 105 but you want them on your roster, you’ve got to cut them now,” he said.
Rodriguez said he is holding out hope that final number will be larger than 105.
“There are going to be some really good players, and some hard-working young men, that we have to cut just to fit the roster size, and that’s not going to be fun at all,” he said.
Unusual times, for sure.
Spring work begins for the Mountaineers next Tuesday.
